BANKING ANALYTICS

Ranking of the Azerbaijani banking sector (ranking includes the information component of the banking sector, the main events of the world economy, the analytical review of the main indices of the banks which are being ranked)

China FM expected in Tehran to discuss nukes issue

This is the first trip of Wang Yi to Tehran since he took office in mid-2013.

According to Fars News Agency, the Chinese foreign minister will visit Tehran on the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Mohammad-Javad Zarif's to talk bilateral issues, as well as Iran's nuclear program.

Iran and P5+1 (the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany) group agreed in November 2014 to extend nuclear talks to June.30. According to the agreement, the sides should reach a political accord in March and reach the comprehensive agreement by self-imposed deadline on June 30.

However, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced last week that he doesn't agree with a "two-stage accord" in the Islamic Republic's nuclear case.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who is leading the nuclear talks with P5+1, discussed the nuclear issue with his German, American, French, Russian and British counterpart on the sideline of Munich Security Conference, held last week, but China hasn't taken part there at foreign ministery level.

As the self-imposed deadline for politic agreement is looming, Iran and P5+1 accelerated the nuclear talks.

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi said February 12 that the nuclear negotiations are in a crucial stage and the technical issues have complicated the nuclear negotiations between Iran and P5+1.

Iran 's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani also said February 11 that Iran is not after buying time in the nuclear talks and any agreement could be reached in a single stage.

The Associated Press reported last week cited unnamed diplomats saying that Iran and the U.S. are negotiating a compromise that would let Iran keep much of its centrifuges but reduce their enrichment potential.

Currently, Iran possesses 19,000 IR1 and 1,000 IR2 centrifuges and about half of them are active. Uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas has been pumped into these centrifuges for enrichment.

IR1 centrifuge capacity for uranium enrichment is 0.8-1.2 SWU, IR2 - 4-5 SWU. There are also more powerful centrifuges, for example, IR8 with the capacity of 24 SWU, but Iran hasn't activated the powerful centrifuges yet.